The invention pertains generally to seals for sealing oven doors when they are closed. More particularly, the invention pertains to a seal and sealing method for sealing the lower end of an oven door, such as for example an industrial oven.
Many types of commercial and other ovens are in use today, particularly in industrial applications such as baking various parts or components. Such ovens typically operate to 350 degrees C., or at greater temperatures. One type of industrial oven has a front opening with a door and shelves or other mounting areas inside the oven so that the items to be treated may be placed within the oven. In these types of ovens, it is possible for a gasket to follow inside the periphery of the door, and the door opening is generally surrounded by housing on all sides that has enough overlapping area with the door to accept contact with the gasket.
However, in another type of oven, it is desirable to place the items on a rolling cart and wheel the cart through the oven door into the oven and then close the door while the oven operates. It has been known for these ovens to have straight vertical sides extending upwardly from the floor, providing an opening with the same. These types of ovens commonly have a relatively thin bottom wall in order to permit the cart to be rolled through the door, and the door opening thus has a very thin bottom surface. This presents a problem in that the sealing gasket which is generally mounted on the inside of the door does not have enough overlapping area to seal with the thin bottom floor wall of the oven.
One solution to this problem has been to provide a flexible flap extending downwardly from the oven door which contacts with the oven floor when the oven is closed. However, because the door openings generally have squared off 90 degree corners at the bottoms where the floor and side walls meet, these lower door flaps have been provided with straight vertical ends. Due to the vertical ends and squared off 90 degree corners, a clearance or gap is necessary to be provided between the vertical ends of the flaps and the vertical interior edges of the door opening, so that the squared off flap does not bind when the door is closed.
The needed clearance can be large enough so that the performance of the oven is adversely affected in some way. For example, the gap which must be provided in the prior art squared off flaps can release heat, and such heat loss can lead to a waste of energy and/or undesirable heat emissions. The gap can also lead to emission of undesirable odors from the inside of the oven. Moreover, because a gap must be intentionally provided, the lower flap cannot provide any pressure sealing ability.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a seal that can be used to seal the bottom of an oven having a relatively thin floor which can provide a good seal without binding when the door is closed.
The present invention provides a seal that can be used to seal the bottom of an oven having a relatively thin floor which can provide a good seal without binding when the door is closed.
In one aspect, the invention provides a system for sealing a lower edge of an oven door to an oven housing when the door is closed, the system comprising: a pair of opposed radiused corners provided at opposed lower corners of the door opening; and a resilient seal member having opposed radiused corners substantially complimentary in shape to the radiused corners of the opening.
In another aspect, the invention provides a system for sealing a lower edge of an oven door to an oven housing when the door is closed, the system comprising: a pair of opposed radiused corners provided at opposed lower corners of the door opening; and sealing means for sealing the door to the housing having opposed radiused corners substantially complimentary in shape to the radiused corners of the opening.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method for sealing a lower edge of an oven door to an oven housing when the door is closed, the method comprising the steps of: providing a pair of opposed radiused corners provided at opposed lower corners of the door opening; and sealing the door to the housing using a seal having opposed radiused corners substantially complimentary in shape to the radiused corners of the opening.
In some embodiments, the radiused corners follow a circular radius shape. In other embodiments, the radiused corners follow an arcuate shape. In still other embodiments, the radiused corners follow a non-circular curved shape.
In some embodiments, the system comprises an angle support bracket mounted to a lower edge of the door that supports an upper portion of the flexible seal against deflection when the door is closed.
Also in some embodiments, the radiused corners of the seal have an interference with the radiused corners of the oven when the door is closed. In some embodiments the seal has an S-shaped cross-section, defining a lower portion, a central portion, and an upper portion, and wherein the lower portion has the radiused corners, and wherein the upper portion extends to a width that is wider than the lower portion. In these and other embodiments, the upper portion seals against an inner surface of the door and also seals against a lower surface of a door gasket, wherein the door has a door gasket extending around the periphery of the door on the inside surface of the door.
Although an oven is given as an example, the present invention may be suitable for any temperature control chamber such as a refrigerator.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described below and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.